REVIEW: Dreamworks “Abominable”

REVIEW: Dreamworks “Abominable”

September 30th, 2019

Martin Goodman

Abominable is a film certain to please middle school to younger age kids and those who love movies classified as “Family Friendly.” However, this approval is purchased at far too high a price.

Adorable? Yes. Animated with technical virtuosity? Indeed. Formulaic and derivative? Unfortunately so. Abominable belongs in that category of movies that include “The Long Journey to Find Those With Whom You Belong Aided by a Protagonist Who Discovers Truths About Him/Herself on the Journey While Both Are Pursued by Nasty Villains.” You’ve seen these movies before, and there is not much to distinguish Abominable from any of them.

It is almost impossible to give away spoilers for this film. Is there a captured creature (Everest) pursued by egotistical, greedy bad’uns (Burnish and Dr. Zara)? Does said creature long only to return home to its own kind? Is there a spunky, misunderstood protagonist (Yi) with a past tragedy? Is she aided by two sidekicks (Jin and Peng) who come to believe in her quest? Do they all defy impossible odds and obstacles and get the creature home? Is there a sad goodbye at the climax? Is the protagonist happier with her place in life after the momentous journey? Do I need to type another sentence?

Abominable also suffers from being the third in a spate of yeti movies within a year. It is technically superior to both Smallfoot and Missing Link, but lacks the smarts to toss in any twists on the yeti legend. By contrast, Smallfoot turns the tables with yetis who believe humans are mythical beasts. Missing Link reunites the yeti with his kind, but they kick him out of their society for lack of refinement and he must find a new choice in life. If only Abominable took such narrative risks.

Moreover, Abominable is a careless film; the implausibilities, inconsistencies, and continuity errors are so plentiful that I eventually stopped counting them. Every dilemma seems to have easy way out thanks to Everest’s magical powers, and there is even some late confusion as to who actually wields the magic. Worse, as the film progressed, I saw a plot hole that should have ended the entire film just after the opening scene. I’ll leave that one to you; I wager that you’ll get it, too. While I realize that this is a kid’s film, I expected much better of writer/director Jill Culton.

A respected animation professional and a groundbreaker at Sony as the first female director of a major animated production (Open Season), Culton has served time in most of animation’s major studios with admirable results. Culton temporarily left production of Abominable in 2016, and I wonder if this interruption affected the story in any way. It would be hard to believe that this is Culton’s crowning effort; no doubt she will be doing better work in the future.

The story does no service to the actors, who are wonderful. Chloe Bennett is wonderfully emotive, with real skill at conveying both hesitancy and determination. I especially enjoyed Tsai Chin’s turn as Nai Nai, Yi’s perpetually worried grandmother. Tenzing Norgay Trainor portrays every aspect of a teenager in love with his own self-image, but is surprisingly nuanced later in the film as he comforts Yi. Albert Tsai is somewhat one-note as Peng, but his enthusiasm is effective. Hand it to the villains: Eddie Izzard as the owlish Mr. Burnish. Due to an attitude adjustment, Izzard is called upon to play two roles within the same character, and shines at it. The same effort is required of Sarah Paulson as the tricky Dr. Zara, and she gives a fine performance as well.

Since the CGI disaster that was Delgo, I’ve noticed that animated films have continued to rise in quality at an exponential rate, and animator’s skills have been keeping pace. It is now reasonable to expect that any computer-animated film by any major studio is going to look fantastic, and in this regard Abominable does not disappoint. Abominable is the second collaboration between DreamWorks and China’s Pearl Studio (formerly Oriental DreamWorks), the first being Kung-Fu Panda 3. The animation itself is top-end, as are the settings.

Several scenes stand out: An evening’s repose in a chrysanthemum tree, an impromptu violin concert on the knee of the Leshan Giant Buddha statue, and a field of saffron flowers morphing into an oceanic wave of incredible power. During a heart-to-heart scene between Yi and Jin set in a shadowed wood, it is impossible not to be impressed by the flawless coordination between the dialogue, the facial expressions, and mouth movements of the characters. While the nature scenes and settings are breathtaking, don’t ignore the early sections of the film that focus on Yi’s urban environment; the backgrounds and camerawork are both exceptional.

In sum, Abominable, like so many animated films of 2019, is a serviceable but far from outstanding effort. I know, we can’t have a Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse every year, but can’t we have something that approaches it in terms of imagination? Sadly, not yeti.